Tar: A Midwest Childhood
1926 novel by Sherwood Anderson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tar: A Midwest Childhood is a 1926 fictionalized memoir by American author Sherwood Anderson. It was originally published by Boni & Liveright and has since been republished several times including a 1969 critical edition.[1] The book is made up of episodes in the childhood of Edgar Moorehead (nicknamed Tar-heel, or Tar, because of his father's North Carolina origin). The fictional location of Tar: A Midwest Childhood bears a resemblance to Camden, Ohio where Sherwood Anderson was born, despite him having spent only his first year there.[2] An episode from the book later appeared, in a revised form, as the short story "Death in the Woods" (1933).[3]
| |
| Author | Sherwood Anderson |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Boni & Liveright, New York |
| Publication date | November 20, 1926 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 346 |
| OCLC | 276744 |
Composition and publication
According to Sherwood Anderson scholar Ray Lewis White, it was 1919 when the author first mentioned in a letter to his publisher at the time, B.W. Huebsch, that he was interested in composing a series of stories based on "...country life at the edge of a middle-western small town."[4] Nothing came of the idea, however, until around February 1925, when the popular monthly magazine The Woman's Home Companion expressed interest.[4] Over that year, including the summer during which Anderson boarded with a family in Troutdale, Virginia and wrote in a log cabin, Tar: A Midwest Childhood was drafted.[5] Though progress on the book was slower than expected over the summer, Anderson reported to his agent Otto Liveright in September 1925, that roughly two-thirds of the book was finished. This was enough that in February 1926, the installments for The Woman's Home Companion were sent off.[6] They were published in the following order:
| Story Title | Volume and Publication Date[6] |
|---|---|
| "Tar Moorhead's Father" | LIII (June, 1926) pgs. 19-20, 154-55 |
| "A Small Boy Looks at His World" | LIII (July, 1926) pgs. 19-20, 42, 45 |
| "Worlds of Fancy and of Facts" | LIII (September, 1926) pgs. 27-28, 79 |
| "Tar's Day of Bravery" | LIII (October, 1926) pgs. 25-26, 184-185 |
| "Tar's Wonderful Sunday" | LIII (November, 1926) pgs. 29-30, 50 |
| "What Makes a Boy Afraid" | LIV (January, 1927) pgs. 19-20, 96 |
That initial task done, Anderson set to finish the rest of the book, sending the completed manuscript to Boni & Liveright in June or July 1926.[6] By September of that year, proofs mailed to Anderson by his publisher were returned with corrections and, by the beginning of November, bound copies of Tar: A Midwest Childhood were posted to the author. The book was released on November 20, 1926.[7] The book has also been published under the title "A Story Teller's Story, Tar: A Midwest Childhood".[8]
